Immaculate Conception School

601 Avenue C, Marrero, LA 70072

THE PROJECT

Immaculate Conception School was established in 1924 & provides educational
opportunities for children in grade levels Pre-K2 through 7 th Grade. They recently moved 1 st – 7 th grade classes into the old Immaculata High School building, which enabled them to add a nursery & accept children under the Pre-K age. After they moved into the Immaculata building, ICS now had a campus twice the size of the original campus with well over 1,400 light fixtures. We contacted them about conducting a free energy audit in order to determine how much money they could save by converting to LED. After conducting our energy audit we determined that I.C.S. had an opportunity to reduce their overall consumption by 326,933 kWh & save nearly $33,000 annually on their energy bill. With the help of the men’s club “I.C.S. Pops”, we were able to move forward with the project.

THE PROCESS

After walking the campus we determined that 85% of the existing lighting was T12
fluorescent tubes which were 40 watts each & still powered by magnetic ballasts. Instead of changing fixtures on this project, we decided to retrofit the existing fixtures with (4,500) of our 15W 4ft LED hybrid tubes. This allowed us to keep the overall cost within their budget but it also allowed us to get rid of the old magnetic ballasts, which generate a lot of heat. The (100+) miscellaneous screw in incandescent/halogen bulbs were replaced with an LED equivalent depending on the location. The main gymnasium had (21) 400W metal halide high bays that were replaced with a 150W LED high bay fixture. On the exterior of the campus we replaced (14) flood light fixtures, (30) wall pack fixtures, & (36) canopy fixtures with an equivalent LED fixture. The installation took place over the Thanksgiving holiday & also at night so there were no disruptions in the student’s daily activities.

LED TUBES

LED WALLPACK

LED FLOOD

THE RESULTS

After our installation/retrofit of the existing fixtures there was a tremendous difference in
the light output inside the classrooms & the appearance of the campus at night was another huge benefit of the project. Their main goal of cutting costs was well achieved by the annual savings on the energy bill but the maintenance & warranty savings played a huge part by eliminating the old magnetic ballasts. Catholic schools rely mainly on tuition & fundraising as their main source of income so we were very happy that we could satisfy the customer’s main goal of saving money while also improving the overall appearance of the campus. I.C.S. will be able to return their investment on this project in just over 2 years.